Lambi Fund of Haiti

2012-01-12T09:21:00.000-08:00

On this day, just two short years ago, tragedy struck and turned Haiti’s world upside down. The impact of the earthquake on January 12, 2010 reverberated deeply throughout the country – forever changing each Haitian’s life. More than just homes and office buildings were destroyed. Over 300,000 lives were lost. Each of these 200,000 had a name and a face. They left behind sons, daughters, siblings, friends and loved ones to mourn their loss.

We knew then that much like the aftershocks that continued to shake the ground for weeks following the quake - there would be several significant “shocks” that would rattle the already weary nation. The work to rebuild would be difficult and would necessitate a long-term vision. Rubble removal was slow and cumbersome, forming a team of international donors and government officials to oversee the millions of dollars in aid has been sluggish and ill-effective at best, long-term housing solutions continue to be a concern for the thousands that remain in tent cities and cholera arrived unexpectedly. It swept through the city and countryside - taking nearly 7,000 lives and infecting over half a million individuals to date.

Amidst all of these trials, local Haitians are beginning to ask “Vè ki lè?”, or around what time [will the change come]? Two years of talk and slow-progress. The time is now and the Lambi Fund of Haiti is working with our partners to build a stronger foundation in Haiti from the ground up.

In order to make this call for progress a reality, several calculated strategies are in order:

Continue to expand rural agriculture and increase local food production. Lambi Fund currently has 17 projects ranging from goat breeding to community farming microcredits to grain storage underway in efforts to strengthen crop outputs and local food systems in Haiti.
Provide technical training and capacity building to grassroots organizations so that they gain the skills needed to successfully and sustainably manage the business enterprises they are launching.
Build latrines and rainwater cisterns in rural communities to help stem the flow of cholera while advocating for a comprehensive and improved water management system.
Hire new staff and attend trainings from specialists in the field to enhance Lambi Fund’s core capacity in order to amplify programs and to work in partnership with communities on a more comprehensive and penetrating level.
Bring human rights to the forefront of rebuilding. The right to shelter, food and fair wages need to be prioritized. Once there is a respect for people’s needs, we as a global community can more effectively mobilize to deliver results.
Let the people of Haiti dictate their own future. Give a voice to the poor majority and provide leaders of rural communities with opportunities for active participation in the decision-making and priority setting process for rebuilding Haiti.

These are not pie in the sky objectives. These are obtainable goals that can be achieved through strategic partnerships and empowerment of the people. While it may seem like a longshot to dream of equal rights and improved livelihoods for the many living in poverty, we at Lambi Fund live the hope. We live to see people struggling make it. We live to see that everyone has a fighting chance – that those who are down and out can one day sustain themselves.

The people of Haiti are strong and are carrying this immense struggle gracefully. I urge you to stand up and stand with the people of Haiti: Advocate for the rights of all Haitians and demand that their voices are heard. You can join Lambi Fund in helping to build a better tomorrow – this is the way to honor the loved ones lost. Let hopes soar and Haiti rise again. The time is now.

In remembrance of our beloved brothers and sisters,

Marie Marthe Saint Cyr

Executive Director

2011-12-07T08:32:00.000-08:00

Deforestation and Rainfall, A Costly Combination:

Flooding Sweeps through the South

In October of 2011, the Lambi Fund of Haiti's board and staff members planned to spend three days in Southern Haiti to visit grain mills, sheep farming and ox-plowing projects. The plan was to stay in Les Cayes and travel daily to different project sites located in neighboring rural communities.

Unrelenting rains offered visitors a unique opportunity to understand how accelerated deforestation affects the realities of partner communities and Lambi Fund staff.

The first site visit to The Organization of Good Samaritans (OBS) was a suspense-filled journey as board and staff traveled on flooded roads, apprehensively watching the water levels rise as they moved further inland. The visit to this thriving grain mill (first funded by Lambi Fund eight years ago) had to be curtailed because of the risk posed by rapidly rising waters.

Staying in Les Cayes, a town of about 100,000 citizens, did not prove more comforting. Following three days of steady rainfall, cresting rivers and swollen ravines flooded the city and its surrounding rural communities.

Waist high flood waters in both rural and urban areas drove home the point that deforestation impacts Haitians on a regular basis. For Lambi Fund staff, especially the regional coordinators, visits to project sites have become increasingly risky propositions, particularly during the rainy season. Roads become impassable at a moment's notice, and journeys quickly turn life-threatening for staff traveling by car or motor bike.

So how does deforestation impact flooding? While statistics vary, most agree that tree cutting has reduced Haiti's tree coverage from 1-4%. The resulting erosion of Haiti's mountains has destroyed an estimated two-thirds of the country's fertile farmland. This loss of trees has meant that arable soil, anchored to the land by their roots, is quickly washed away during the rainy season.

Consequently, without any soil and roots to hold water, a normal amount of water are not absorbed. As such, rainy seasons have turned Haiti into a landscape of overflowing rivers - carrying with them valuable top soil and causing immeasurable damage.

While the world holds its breath when forecasted hurricanes approach Haiti, not much attention is paid to the impact of the rainy season on farming communities.

For Lambi Fund's partners, deforestation has transformed the rainy season from a much awaited source of irrigation to a season fraught with danger, one engendering unanticipated losses and devastation.

This was witnessed in the recent visit to the South, where some organizations lost 50% of their crops and about 80% of pastures for sheep were destroyed. This means that farmers, who accessed credit from the community-run mutual credit funds, will experience great hardships. Their repayment plans often hinge on the anticipated sale of crops. Meanwhile, sheep growers' profitability is jeopardized since they will be forced to reinvest in the purchase and preparation of animal feed.

As this vulnerability becomes more apparent, appreciation for Lambi Fund's reforestation efforts has grown. Partners have responded by participating enthusiastically in training workshops offered on reforestation and seedling cultivation. Members of organizations work collectively to build nurseries, care for seedlings, and replant young trees on their lands and in vulnerable watershed areas.

For the past ten years, Lambi Fund has been steadfast in its comprehensive, grassroots-driven reforestation efforts.

In addition to including a reforestation component in all funded projects, Lambi Fund has incorporated environmentally safe practices in other programmatic activities, most notably animal husbandry. Free grazing has been identified as a significant cause of deforestation and environmental degradation, particularly when goats and sheep are allowed to feed on young trees and seedlings. As a result, all Lambi Fund supported animal husbandry projects build enclosures where animals are kept. The offered workshops show farmers how to grow and preserve the forage needed to keep their animals wellfed and healthy even during the dry season.

Over the course of 10 years, Lambi Fund partners have prepared over 1.5 million seedlings and have planted 1.2 million tree saplings. It is estimated that 60% of these trees survive, meaning that about 720,000 trees have matured in communities throughout Haiti. Lambi Fund also has plans to hire an agronomist with expertise in agro-forestry who will oversee all reforestation projects. In addition, staff members are exploring the use of grassroots-friendly GPS technology to better document the impact of Lambi Fund's reforestation projects. Mapping reforestation progress will better allow Lambi Fund to see the strengths and weakness regarding tree planting efforts â€“ allowing staff to enforce and adapt strategies as needed.

In spite of the daunting challenges presented to farmers by deforestation, they are not losing hope. Clermont Yogane Enold, a twenty-something farmer of the Association of Youth from Tet-Kole Bedo, summarized it most eloquently. When asked what they would do to address the losses sustained in the floods he replied: "We cannot give into despair, we will work the land, plant trees and grow our crops once again…."

Read more from Lambi Fund's Fall Newsletter here.

2011-09-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

FAMAB MEMBERS VISIT LAMBI FUND’S OFFICE

Early on August 28, 2010 the Lambi Fund staff was greeted with 54 members of FAMAB (The Organization of Brave Women) who dropped by for a special visit. It should be noted that Lambi Fund's office is quite small and it was a packed house!

Members of the organization arrived at our office in Bois Verna around 10 am and informed us that their visit had 3 main objectives:

First, they came to wish Josette (the Haiti Director) a speedy recovery since they had learned that she was dealing with some health issues. The visit was one of solidarity with Josette to express their love and their support to her in her time of need. They prayed and sang for her speedy recovery.

· Second, the purpose of the visit was to say thank you and express their gratitude for the fact that almost a year ago, in the aftermath of the earthquake, the Lambi Fund of Haiti helped 100 of its members (Emergency grants were provided to the women of FAMAB). This support enabled the women to recapitalize their small businesses and pay the fees needed to send their children to school. The women also took the opportunity to give a verbal report about how the emergency assistance had helped them and how they were doing today (they have already submitted a written report).

· Third, they wanted to request a loan because their members’ financial situation was critical especially before the schools reopen.

MEMBER PROFILE

We must note that 10 out of the 54 women who came to visit were elderly women, who in spite of their advanced years are still conducting vending activities.

There were also 35 women who were relatively young and who were also small vendors. The cost of their supplies has increased and their profit has decreased considerably.

9 members of the organization were very young and are now attending school (computer, cosmetology, and secondary school), but in order to pay for their classes they have also gotten involved in vending activities. These young women have become very active and are revitalizing the organization.

UPDATE

During the visit, FAMAB members who benefited from the post-earthquake emergency grant thanked Lambi Fund for the support provided to 100 of its members. They shared with us what a tremendous life saver the grant had been. They also informed us that there are only 20 members still living in a camp in the Bel-Air neighborhood.

2011-08-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

Deputy Director, Leonie Hermantin, braces for the storm...

Since I live in Miami, I am quite accustomed to the "frenzy"before the storm.... We rush to get water, canned goods, candles etc.. I am in Haiti today, and while the president and his team have been encouraging folks to get ready, there seems to be total lack of interest in or fear of the impending storm... This morning I asked my waiter if he was getting ready for Emily and he asked if that was the lady sitting at the next table. When I specified what that was, he just shrugged and stated that he was not too worried... Same sentiments at the office. The camp dwellers were told to seek shelter (where?) cut down tree limbs or tie down the tents... Mark Schuller tells me that while they are aware of the storm, they just don't have the material needed to protect themselves.

At the hotel, no one has told me anything about the storm, no contingency plan...evacuation plan... NADA... Meanwhile, like a good Miami resident, I am leaving work a bit early and I am getting my water, canned goods, candles and ice cream....

Read more about the fast approaching tropical storm here.

2011-07-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

Happy July! July means the days are longer, the nights warmer…and that it’s time once again for Lambi Fund’s July Giving Challenge.. For the entire month of July, the SG Foundation will match every $1 donated up to $10,000.

This is an unbeatable opportunity to choose from one of the Lambi Fund of Haiti’s many programs working to rebuild and you can double your impact.

Worried about stemming the spread of cholera?

Provide clean water in rural communities throughout Haiti by supporting the construction of rainwater cisterns. (Learn how the rainy season is dramatically increasing the rate of infections here).

Interested in supporting local food security?

Start a tool bank and help rural communities throughout Haiti expand crop yields.

Want to support the creation of local businesses in Haiti?

Launch a community microcredit fund and provide women with the credit needed to purchase goods and supplies for small business enterprises.

Let’s rise to the challenge and make more of an impact than ever in Haiti! For the entire month of July, $1 really equals $2. Tell your friends and family and together we can surpass July’s Giving Challenge. Donate now!

To good health and a happy summer,

Marie Marthe Saint Cyr

Executive Director

2011-06-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

THOUGHTS ON HAITI

The world is visibly smaller while remaining more unequal, with less parity and greater inequity. We communicate in megabytes and sound bites in one sequence of events. These repeated patterns from the political, social, economic to the recreational arena are making learning a challenge or we can say they are challenging the methodologies and processes of learning as we know it. It has become essential to be not just a student but an evolving student of the world, shaping plans, selecting approaches and creating adapted strategies to conform and progress in a dynamically evolving environment. Our world requires an extreme capacity for mélange, extraction and blending, thus an unusual creative ability to adjust and progress at the same time.

The invitation to the Festival of ideas and art has been for me a renewal of reflection in arenas that have been the focus of my activities for the last three years. Prior to the earthquake of January 12^th, 2010, I pondered on this question: How can I have such affinity to a place, a people, living condition a style of thinking while feeling that my contribution is so limited. Even when I knew the interdependence of the world makes it such that no one individual is responsible for change, I feel challenged to find myself in the chain of change.

While this is sharing an individual reflection, it is all about Haiti. It is the pervasive need to be integrated: the blending of belonging, obligation, duty and choice; all reminders that the ties are infinitesimally interdependent. The question becomes can Haiti change without, you (reader), me (citizen), the diaspora (disillusioned Citizenry) and outsiders, foreigners often more integrated in the internal affairs of the Country.

At times, I even ask can we be a nation despite our grand history. Can the diaspora become content and contained and support the internal practices that can create change rather than interpose the creativity that they have harnessed to adapt to their new milieu? Because I have created a framework that contains both my cultural source, my music, my colorful perspectives and survived in another land, is that strategy importable or transportable to Haiti? And will it lead to critical change? In the same way, I can ask can we import food from outside just because some market is subsidizing it and abandon our own ability to feed our people even more nutritiously.

A small group who has taken seriously the notion of grass roots as a core for innovation and creative adaptability, called the Lambi Fund attracted my attention with an approach, a methodology and strategies that are grass root driven, with local planning and local visioning in a partnership that is clad in parity, respectful of self-determination and mutual respect. Grass root meaning the population of Haitians in rural areas, those who are often denied their rights and remain afloat by their own efforts; they, in essence, have survived.

At the core of reconstruction, changing Haiti is about: Integration, Decentralization, Infrastructure development within a framework of renewal and protection of the environment; broadened advocacy through formal education, civic education and strategic partnerships for sustainable change.

Haiti has become a nation of projects. Out of diplomacy into reality, Can any of these projects be sustainable without a National Plan for Haiti with capable an efficient leadership?

Marie Marthe Saint Cyr

Executive Director

2011-06-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

A father is...

The days are longer, nights warmer and summer is here! This year Father's Day is June 19th - an especially important day for everyone at the Lambi Fund of Haiti. It's a day to honor all of the strong fathers, grandfathers and men in our lives.

Thank your dad for the many great
life lessons he has taught you!

Since the earthquake, Lambi Fund has worked hand-in-hand with thousands of great fathers who have worked to provide for their families and to rebuild their communities. This daily display of resilience and humble generosity has been a constant inspiration to Lambi Fund.

Honor the special men in your life by helping fathers throughout Haiti build a strong future for their sons and daughters.

Make a donation in his honor and help farmers plant more crops and increase food supply by providing organic seeds, starting a community tool bank, or purchasing an ox-plow.

Or provide local fishermen with the chance to catch more fish bypurchasing new fishing equipment and larger nets.

Each and every one of these gifts is accompanied with training on things like organic farming, sustainable fishing practices and organizational management.

Thank your father for everything he has taught you by providing fathers throughout Haiti with the opportunity for training, sustainable incomes, and a bright future.

To our Fathers,

Marie Marthe Saint Cyr

Executive Director

Click here to print out a special Father's Day Card available in English or Kreyol.

2011-05-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

Building Community, One Mill at a Time

The St. Martin Youth Association for Community Development (AJSDC) is a vibrant local organization in the Artibonite Valley of Haiti. This fertile region produces the majority of Haiti's rice and AJSDC has just opened a community grain mill to support these agricultural efforts.

Years of hard work and community cooperation has gone into making this grain mill a reality. The group, who formed nearly 20 years ago and has 305 members, has been working together on sustainable development projects for quite some time, but this is by far their largest undertaking. AJSDC finds strength in its diversity.

A good chunk of its members have been with the group since its inception — they provide valuable leadership and wisdom, while a flood of new members infuse AJSDC with youth, vitality and energetic plans for the future. AJSDC's ability to engage the youth has directly strengthened the local organization and revitalized its efforts in community development.

AJSDC's new grain mill

The grain mill opening was a jubilant affair. Men, women and children came wearing their finest clothing. Hundreds of community members were in attendance. It was clear by the excitement and pride in the air that this was much more than the opening of a grain mill - it was a celebration of years of hard work and the countless possibilities for the future.

It was a meticulously planned program, with cultural components sprinkled throughout, with singing, dancing, speeches, a play and two skits. The older, more senior members opened the ceremony and spoke first about the organization, its history and the work they have done to improve the community. Newer and younger members then spoke about their vision and joy in making the grain mill a reality.

"This was much more than the opening of a grain mill — it was a celebration of years of hard work and the countless possibilities for the future."

The president of AJSDC, Wilner Pierre Louis, proudly declared, "With the opening of this mill, we can be the masters of our own destiny." He rejoiced in explaining how this mill will allow members to mill their own grains. No more will community members need to walk long distances for milling services. No more will they have to pay exorbitant milling fees. Milling services at this community mill will be at an affordable price and of high quality.

The mill is also a place to prepare and store seeds thanks to a large storage room. This small detail will allow members to save seeds for the next planting season and to achieve higher levels of economic security.

Longtime AJSDC member joyously celebrating the mill opening

The woman [pictured right] was dancing about ecstatically throughout the ceremony because as she exclaimed, "I am so happy not to have to walk far [to have my grains milled] and the kids can go to school now because they will not have to help transporting the grains."

Members worked hard to ensure that the grain mill meets all of their needs. Along with a motorized tiller, storage rooms and space to prepare the grains, the organization is building latrines near the building. There is also access to water which assists in running the mill and providing clean drinking water.

"With the opening of this mill, we can be the stewards of our own destiny."

The motorized tiller that will mill grains and rice

While members fastidiously thanked the Lambi Fund of Haiti for its assistance in making this mill a reality, Lambi Fund staff could only respond with the utmost respect and gratitude for the hard work and resilience these members have shown in the last year. Staff members thanked them for their perseverance, strength and unity as they have moved forward after the earthquake.

Lambi Fund's new Executive Director, Marie Saint Cyr, attended the meeting and congratulated AJSDC members and the project committee for their long-term collaboration with Lambi Fund as the community works to realize its hopes and dreams. This building is more than just a building and more than a mill, it is a symbol of community strength and unity. With every brick and piece of mortar, this mill is building community.

A sign hung in preparation for the celebration reading "Welcome Lambi Fund of Haiti"

2011-05-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

Catherine Flon stitching together
the Haitian flag.

Happy Haitian Flag Day! On this day in 1803, the Haitian flag was created in the town of Arcahaie (just outside of Port-au-Prince). In the midst of Haiti’s war for independence, the revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines asked Catherine Flon, his god-daughter, to sew a flag together for the soon to be independent nation. By removing the white stripe of the French tricolored flag, symbolizing European domination and colonization, and stitching together the remaining red and blue stripes, representing the nation’s black and interracial citizens, the flag came to embody the spirit of Haitian freedom, national pride, and individual liberty.

In honor of Flag Day, the Lambi Fund of Haiti would like to salute the proud people of Haiti and Haitian diaspora living abroad. Today as we look back on the proud history of Haiti, the first and only republic to hold a successful slave rebellion, Lambi Fund looks forward to a promising and united future.

In honor of democracy and continued social empowerment,may Haiti stand together -strong and united like the stitched together stripes on the flag as we rebuild for a stronger tomorrow.

Bonn Fet Drapo Nou, Viv Ayiti!

Man selling Haitian flags

2011-05-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

Cholera Continues in Haiti's Countryside

17 May 2011 - Cholera, like most news in Haiti, made headlines and then was placed on the sidelines as other more "newsworthy" events were brought to the forefront. Since the fall of last year, Haiti has been battling this ugly epidemic and it has been particularly devastating in the countryside due a lack of water infrastructure and nearly unnavigable dirt roads.

Haitians still in the midst of dealing with the tragedy of the earthquake began losing thousands to a once forgotten illness. For many this is an unimaginable new wave of heartbreak and loss. As of March 2011, over 240,000 individuals have been infected and 4,600 people have died from cholera.

The troubling part is that the worst is yet to come. A new study conducted at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Harvard Medical School predicts that the cholera epidemic could be far worse than initial projections, which had estimated 400,000 cases of the disease throughout the epidemic. The study is predicting that there could be nearly twice that number — perhaps 779,000 cases of cholera between March and November of this year alone.

Why? How can it be that cases of cholera had not been seen on the island for more than 100 years and now the disease has reemerged as a full blown epidemic? Simply put, cholera is bacteria spread from person-toperson through contaminated food and water. It causes diarrhea and can be deadly if left untreated (ScienceDaily, March 2011). Cholera is completely preventable in places where modern sanitation and clean water are readily available.

This is not the case in Haiti. Only 1 in 5 Haitians have access to a sanitary toilet or latrines. Of the rural population in Haiti, just 12% have access to sanitation and 51% have access to improved drinking water sources. These dire circumstances create a perfect storm for cholera to grow, spread and continue to contaminate individuals. The devastating truth is that 2010 brought the earthquake which was over and done with in mere minutes. Cholera which arrived just nine months later is not quick. It is persistent and will linger for years given the proper conditions.

Girls Carrying clean water

And linger it has. Cholera continues to claim lives in rural communities throughout Haiti. A lack of proper water infrastructure and sanitation continue infections, while poor roads and a complete shortage of timely transportation (like ambulances) greatly reduce timely access to immediate care and increase the severity of the illness.

Several longtime partners of Lambi Fund have lost their lives to cholera and every partner has been affected by this deadly infection. Farmers from the Bige district recount story after story of carrying sick friends and family members on wooden doors across rivers. Four people carry one sick individual as they trudge through mud, fields, water and over hills in pursuit of the nearest Cholera Treatment Center (CTC). Others cart loved ones in wheel barrels, which as you can imagine is a jarring and unwieldy journey for someone who is ill and in desperate need of a hospital bed. Treatment at a CTC in a timely manner is proven to be critical, yet for the majority living in the most remote parts of Haiti, they simply are not close enough to be effective. Even more upsetting, many of these centers have been closed down as officials declare the need is subsiding.

What is being done in efforts to contain and control the rate of infections? The Haitian Ministry of Health has done a good job of launching a prompt and comprehensive awareness campaign. They have launched radio and television ads throughout Haiti that educate citizens on the contamination, spread, and symptoms of cholera, along with techniques for prevention and care. Educational materials and brochures have been widely distributed to health centers, schools and other public gathering places throughout the country. This campaign has been particularly effective in cities and towns and countless lives have been saved, yet for the rural parts of Haiti much of this information has yet to be received and cholera, not surprisingly rages on, intensifying in new spots of infections.

These community members living in rural
Haiti have received clean water training

Disseminating information in the rural parts of Haiti has been particularly difficult. Following the immediate outbreak, hysteria reigned. Due to a complete lack of knowlege of what cholera is or how it spread, community members abstained from organizing or meeting in local spaces. This immense fear made holding meetings to inform locals on the prevention of cholera very difficult.

Getting communities to once again organize and trust one another was the first step. From there, Lambi Fund has been fervently working to share the published information and reinforce the messages and strategies proven safe.

This has been a two pronged approach: first staff are meeting with organizations and providing information and visuals that explain how to prevent the spread of cholera. This includes water purification methods and hand washing.

From there, Lambi Fund field staff are planning training sessions for 2-3 people in each partner organization. These trainees have the role of circulating information regarding cholera prevention to all organization members and their families.

This is a critical component as these water ambassadors will work to keep the information alive. In order to prevent the return of old habits, they will work with community members to remind them to continue washing their hands and purifying their water long after the scare of cholera has subsided.

In the South, cholera numbers have been steadily increasing. Cholera broke out in the Artibonite region of Haiti, thus most treatment efforts have been focused in this region.

Given this reality, Lambi Fund project monitors are visiting all partner organizations in the southern provinces. During these visits, they are sharing with members how to prevent and protect their families from contracting the cholera bacteria. If symptoms are shown, Lambi Fund recommends keeping individuals hydrated through a serum of water and sugar. This is incredibly important, because these are measures to take before seeking a CTC, which are few and far between in the South.

Women using clean cooking methods
to prevent the transmission of cholera

This health crisis was certainly not one that was foreseen, but Lambi Fund has been doing its very best to mobilize and utilize its resources in an effort to educate the greatest number of individuals in rural communities. Maricelle, an organization member and recipient of Lambi Fund's cholera awareness program said, "We went through the earthquake, Lambi Fund is with us. We went through hurricanes, Lambi Fund is there and now we face the cholera epidemic and Lambi Fund is with us distributing goods and resources. Lambi Fund is with us hand in hand through the tough times."

To be certain, cholera will not disappear overnight. Josette Perard, Lambi Fund's Program Director emphasized the importance of these education programs stating that, "It is essential that we reinforce the prevention of cholera through education across Lambi Fund's various projects as a means to controlling and eliminating the disease." It is hoped that through this comprehensive grassroots campaign to educate and improve access to clean water, entire communities will benefit from improved health and cleaner environments as a direct result.

Read more updates in Lambi Fund's Spring 2011 Newsletter.

2011-04-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day is a big day for everyone here at Lambi Fund and we hope you are using today as a chance to give a little something back to this wonderful planet that we call home.

In Haiti, thousands of Haitian peasants are becoming stewards of their environments as they work steadfastly to restore and protect their mountains, hills, rivers and crops. Community-led reforestation is a major component of Lambi Fund's work. Each and every organization and project that Lambi Fund partners with community organizations on has a reforestation aspect.

By funding the supplies needed to build tree nurseries, purchase seeds and tools like shovels and picks and providing the training necessary to nurture and plant tree saplings throughout Haiti, hundreds of thousands of trees have been planted in Haiti's countrysides. Members of community organizations are directly invested in the health and well-being of these tree seedlings as they are responsible for the daily management and upkeep of the tree nurseries. Once the saplings are ready to be planted, organizations share the saplings and decide where they should be planted.

Peruse our brand new reforestation slideshow or watch our reforestation video to learn even more!

TOGETHER, we can make this Earth greener, healthier, and a better place to live.

2011-03-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

Lambi Fund Hires New Executive Director

23 March 2011 - I want to be the first to let you know that the Lambi Fund of Haiti has hired a new Executive Director. The appointment of Marie Marthe Saint Cyr as Lambi Fund’s new ED is very exciting for our organization and our rural partners in Haiti.

Marie Marthe St. Cyr,
Lambi Fund's new ED

Within this new restructuring of Lambi Fund, I will continue to focus my efforts on outreach, development, and administration. The decision to appoint a new executive director was one that was not taken lightly. Following last year’s earthquake, the need of our grassroots partners in Haiti has expanded immensely and Marie Marthe’s presence and vision will allow Lambi Fund to more effectively respond to the pressing needs and challenges of our rural partners during this critical period for Haiti.

So, it is my pleasure to introduce Marie Marthe to you! Ms. Saint Cyr was born in Haiti, speaks fluent Haitian Kreyol and has a long history of working hand-in-hand with grassroots organizations. As our past Board Chair, Ms. Saint Cyr knows the organization from the inside out and has dedicated her time and energy to Lambi Fund for many years.

Max Blanchet, the current board chair, is equally excited about this new addition, “After 17 years of existence, and in view of the current situation in Haiti, we have chosen a leader with local roots, solid management and operations experience as Lambi Fund expands our efforts to address the increasing demands of the Haitian organizations in the rural areas.”

This is a time for opportunity in Haiti and Lambi Fund looks forward to instilling positive change - to expanding the organization and building a more unified and dynamic cohort to better serve rural communities in Haiti.

Together, Lambi Fund looks forward to strengthening its mission and working to better serve its rural partners in this next chapter of the organization. We hope you’ll join us on this journey – stay tuned!

Moving onward and upward,

Karen Ashmore
Lambi Fund of Haiti

2011-03-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

Stories of Survival: Haiti Earthquake

Two women living in rural Haiti share stories of how the earthquake affected them and their families.

2011-02-01T16:35:00.000-08:00

Stories of Survival

Watch the Lambi Fund of Haiti's most recent YouTube video which talks with two earthquake survivors. The two women tell their stories of of hardship, life, loss, and survival.

2011-01-11T13:01:00.000-08:00

Haiti: One Year Later

One year later. Three hundred and sixty-five days since the ground shook and forever changed Haiti. I thought a lot about what I wanted to say about the earthquake and my Ayiti Cheri as we take this day to remember and honor the loved ones lost.

Undoubtedly, countless news stories will air this week looking at Haiti’s journey this past year and how the rebuilding effort is progressing. To be certain, Haiti has had more than a tough go at things. The earthquake left Port-au-Prince and many cities in ruin, hurricanes flooded and damaged the south, cholera has mercilessly swept through the country leaving Haiti brimming with hardships, anxiety, and uncertainty, and Presidential elections held in November had chaotic outcomes. The entire election swirled with rumors of rampant fraud and ballot-stuffing and most viewed the entire process as illegitimate. When results for the run-off election were announced in December, riots and violence broke out in the streets of Port-au-Prince.

By most accounts, the rebuilding effort in Haiti seems stagnant. Tons and tons of rubble still litter Port-au-Prince’s streets, millions struggle to survive in tent cities, a comprehensive reconstruction plan still has not been agreed upon, and millions of dollars in aid money sits in banks. Despite these tough realities and the difficult road that Haiti must journey down, I would like for a moment to stop and offer a glimmer of hope. It seems that despite all this, life in Haiti goes on.

In 2010, the Lambi Fund of Haiti witnessed countless stories of heroism, peasant solidarity, recovery, and movements to envision, plan, and work to rebuild Haiti. While many may paint Haitians as helpless victims, nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, it is in the people where Haiti’s strength lies.

Immediately following the earthquake, Lambi Fund staff and its local partners were very much in the midst of the disaster. It took an agonizing six days to finally make contact with Lambi Fund staff in Haiti. Fearing the worst, Lambi Fund’s country director, Josette Perard, reported that the office just blocks from the presidential palace was damaged, yet miraculously all staff members were alive and healthy. Everyone though, had lost close friends and family.

Lambi Fund staff quickly sprang to action and thanks to years of working with local grassroots organizations throughout Haiti, it seemed Lambi Fund was uniquely positioned to provide immediate and effective relief. Partnerships with local organizations that Lambi Fund had been developing for over 16 years served as an essential network during this time.

Lambi Fund convened regional committees of local grassroots leaders throughout the country to determine immediate and long-term needs. Over a half million earthquake survivors fled Port-au-Prince to stay with friends and family in rural Haiti. Household sizes doubled overnight and for Lambi Fund partners already struggling to survive on less than $2 a day, they did not have the means to provide relief.

Based on these discussions, Lambi Fund was able to swiftly distribute emergency grants to 44 grassroots organizations to purchase life essentials like food, water, shelter and medical supplies. In all, 8,000-9,000 people received emergency relief (1,080 families received grants and each family had an average of 8 people).

Mr. Josephat, a member of a community organization in the Artibonite, recalled tearfully:

"I had 21 people, strangers staying with me and my family. We did not think twice about welcoming them, but we had not yet figured out how they would be cared for or how they would be fed.

When we heard about Lambi Fund's program to help impacted families, I was so happy that I cried. I cried because I was touched and shocked that people who had been at the center of this disaster had the time to think about us.

I was so proud to be a member of a strong organization, and I really deeply understood why being organized is the path to a better life. We would have been left to our own devices without Lambi Fund's support.

The government never came and the NGOs which did drop by brought free food supplies and their methods of distribution stripped us of our dignity."

Mr. Josephat’s sentiments were echoed throughout discussions with other partner organizations in Haiti.

“My name is Ostazia. My husband and I have 10 children and we live in the North West. After the January 12, 2010 earthquake which destroyed Port-au-Prince, our household increased by 10 more people. This was extremely problematic as we did not have the means to care for them. It is thanks to my organization and the Lambi Fund that we got the relief we so desperately needed. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, THANK YOU!”

The Next Phase

Knowing that food security and restoring livelihoods for the thousands of survivors now living in rural communities would be essential, Lambi Fund’s second phase of relief focused on expanding crop production and the availability of locally produced food. An emergency credit was provided to 1,254 farmers in 41 partner organizations to allow them to purchase more seeds, tools and supplies to increase crop outputs and feed more families.

Based on reports from farmers, it is projected that about 10,000 persons benefitted from this program. By all accounts, communities generated bountiful harvests of peas, corn and vegetables for consumption and sale at local markets.

In addition, Lambi Fund replenished community microcredit funds to help small business owners purchase more goods and restart their enterprises. Two women’s groups in Port-au-Prince who fight violence against women and provide support for women’s small businesses lost everything in the earthquake. Women and their families have been forced to live in squalid conditions in tent cities. Lambi Fund worked with these women to provide small grants to start small businesses and to send their children back to school.

Looking Towards the Future

Never before has Lambi Fund faced a disaster of such a daunting magnitude and it is thanks to you and your amazing support in this past year that Lambi Fund was able to mobilize and provide such urgent relief. For an extensive breakdown of Lambi Fund’s earthquake relief, I ask you to read the Earthquake Activities Update on our website www.lambifund.org .

Haitian peasants are determined to be part of their country's reconstruction and thanks to previous Lambi Fund organizational development and capacity building - they are organizationally strong and ready to serve as a collected front to implement change.

In addition to continuing our support of sustainable economic and environmental activities, Lambi Fund has pledged to amplify the voices of the Haitian people and their determination to be included in this historic moment for nation building in Haiti.

In 2011, the Lambi Fund of Haiti is ready to implement the next phases of the Earthquake Recovery Plan:

Increase micro-enterprises with additional community microcredit funds.
Increase organic, locally-grown food and clean water with expanded sustainable agriculture, reforestation and water access projects.
Increase livelihoods with expanded sustainable development projects, such as pig and goat breeding, grain mills and sugar cane mills.

· Build latrines to prevent spread of disease and increase sanitation in rural areas, as a result of rapidly growing population.

· Expand women’s program to address the special needs of women (more vulnerable to domestic violence and sexual assault in tent cities but several organized women’s groups are standing up for the rights of women and children).

· Support Policy Advocacy program to express voice of the Haitian people in rebuilding Haiti. As foreign corporations and governments jockey for rebuilding contracts, the Haitian voice has been neglected. Haitians must be involved in all facets of rebuilding.

People from rural communities are working together to increase sustainability in their communities and ongoing training in sustainable agriculture, animal husbandry, and increasing organizational capacity will be key to long- term success. The Lambi Fund Earthquake Recovery Plan will continue in 2011 and beyond. Rebuilding Haiti is a long-term commitment for the Lambi Fund and we hope that you choose to take this journey with us. With your continued support, Lambi Fund and the people of Haiti can work to achieve sustainable communities and a vibrant Haiti.

Looking to the future,

Karen Ashmore

Executive Director

Lambi Fund of Haiti

2011-01-04T16:11:00.000-08:00

Author and Publisher Donate Proceeds to Lambi Fund

Catching the Tap-Tap to Cayes de Jacmel, written by Lane Ashfeldt, is the award winner of the Global Short Story Prize. In this amazing short-story, Ashfeldt takes the reader through an emotional and inspirational journey in rubble strewn Haiti after the earthquake. In a short Q&A with the author, Lane Ashfeldt is asked what the phrase ‘Catching the Tap-Tap’ in the title means. Lane responds by saying:

…The tap-tap, with persistent and life-affirming rhythm, sort of crashed its way into the story. I don’t even remember the first draft without it. It took over the space, all the more so because tap-taps are a big part of everyday life in Haiti. In case you haven’t read the story and don't know what I'm on about, I’ll say no more so you can read it and find out for yourself.

Hopefully there's another meaning tied in with this also: how something like this can be passed on, person to person or phone to phone, getting the message across and supporting local people in Haiti to build a stronger future.

In support of helping Haiti build a better future, Lane Ashfeldt and Ether Books have decided to generously donate all author and publisher fees to the Lambi Fund of Haiti. Download this story now and support the grassroots-led effort to achieve sustainable rebuilding in Haiti.

Catching the Tap-Tap to Cayes is available for download via the Ether Books application for $1.99. You may download the Ether Books app for free in the iTunes store.

2011-01-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

Empower the People

Happy new year! Ring in 2011 by watching the Lambi Fund of Haiti's newest video just posted on YouTube. It talks about how people like you can help to make a difference in Haiti and how grassroots organizations are uniting Haitians and improving livelihoods. Sustainable, grassroots development is something we can all work for in 2011.

2010-11-22T10:41:00.000-08:00

Strong Women Build Sustainable Communities

By Sarah Leavitt

A powerful women's movement, which today is more than 4,000 women strong was founded over 20 years ago in June 1986. This dynamic group, the Coordination of Women from Tet Kole- North West (KFTKNW), is located in Haiti's Northwestern penisula and is comprised of 600 groups of women of about 5 to 15 members each scattered throughout the region.

In addition, KFTK-NW is also affiliated with one of Haiti's largest peasant organizations - Tet Kole ti Peyisan Ayisen (TKPA) also founded in June 1986. Women formed this coalition to create an avenue for women to discuss problems specific to women and to develop strategies to resolve these problems. This included addressing a number of important issues like advocating for equal rights between men and women in the home and to improve economic conditions for its members.By Sarah Leavitt
A powerful women's movement, which today is more than 4,000 women strong was founded over 20 years ago in June 1986. This dynamic group, the Coordination of Women from Tet Kole- North West (KFTKNW), is located in Haiti's Northwestern penisula and is comprised of 600 groups of women of about 5 to 15 members each scattered throughout the region.

Since its inception, KFTK-NW has fought to ensure access to clean and potable water, food security and sustainable agriculture development.

Notable accomplishments in the past 20 years:

Proud members of KFTK-NW

Pooling member resources and leasing a large tract of land for a cooperative of crop cultivation
Preparing homeopathic remedies to sell in markets
Creating microcredit funds to support women's economic activities- today there are three such funds in operation
Distributing 80 small manual corn mills in partnership with Lambi Fund to expand market value of milled grains
Building six rainwater >cisterns with Lambi Fund in Remon, which constitutes the main source of potable water for community members
With Lambi Fund's support, building two rainwater cisterns in Lacoma that support community-wide activities at the Marie Vincent Community Center
Constructing two Lambi Fund grain mills in Remon and Mawotyé >which support local economic activities

Impacts from this comprehensive network of women who work together as a unified front have been significant. The women of KFTK-NW have brought engagement and sustainable solutions to their communities. Residents of entire communities now have the opportunity to transform their crops, process their grains without traveling long distances and access to clean, potable water.

Merile Lebien, a member's husband, states that prior to construction of the grain mill, he and his wife had to get up at 2am to travel for hours to the nearest mill. They had to leave their children in the care of neighbors because roads were not safe for a woman to travel alone. Now, the local grain mill makes these time consuming trips unnecessary.

In addition to ensuring greater access to food and encouraging members to invest in agriculture, the mills have spawned a space for retail activities. Members now sell their wares, prepared foods, dried fish, bread and fruits to grain mill customers- creating a viable sub-economy in these communities.

"The women of KFTK-NW have brought engagement and sustainable solutions to their communities."

KFTK-NW members have recognized that Lambi Fund's training sessions offered on grain milling, project management and capacity building also strengthened the group's capacity to implement other projects in their communities.

Members in Remon described a system of water management they developed following a water management workshop offered by Lambi Fund. Thanks to KFTK-NW's ability to manage rainwater cisterns, two members of the community are now employed as "water managers" and the community has steady access to a locally controlled source of potable water.

Over the years, KFTK-NW has grown into a multi-generational network of women working together to improve their communities. They have proven to be a positive force that challenges critical issues they face and works together to solve them. By providing opportunities for training, economic development and sustainable incomes to its 4,000 members, KFTK-NW has not only strengthened women's position in society, but improved entire families' livelihoods.

Read more of Lambi Fund's Fall Newsletter here.

2010-11-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

The People Must be Agents of Change

By: Beverly Bell

Josette Pérard is director of Fon Lanbi Haiti, the Haitian counterpart of the Lambi Fund. Fon Lanbi trains, builds capacity of, and gets grants to women’s and small farmer organizations in rural areas. Josette’s perspectives on community development follow.

The idea of development is to provide everyone with the means to work, to meet their needs, and to let them enjoy their human rights so they can be full citizens. But for development to occur, the system must change. And the
people must be agents of that change.

If Haiti and our communities were organized, development activities would come just from the initiative of the community members themselves. But because of how the country works, because there’s no government action,
there must be some organizations like ours to help people implement community development programs.

Alternative means if something that is necessary doesn’t exist, you must do it yourself. Lambi Fund’s development programs constitute an alternative compared to what the government does. But I don’t think this form of development can lead to a complete solution.

What we have now is a subsistence economy. An economy of local or community small businesses won’t change the national economy as a whole. The country's economy must change so that people can get education, health, and many other things. For this, there must be a responsible government. There must be two-way communication and joint participation between the government and the communities.

Everyone wonders why Haiti is in the state it’s in. It’s because since 1804, there are so many who’ve been called moun andeyò, outsiders [those living in the countryside]. These people continue to be excluded from what’s happening in their own homeland. They don’t know what the big social, political, and economic powers are doing. They must accept or take whatever is designed for them.

Some of the privileged are descendants of former colonists. After the revolution in 1804, they simply wanted to continue using the former slaves, keeping them in their fields of sugar cane and coffee just like in the days
of slavery. Today it’s the great-grandsons and granddaughters who maintain political, economical and social power, at the expense of the majority. Those holding the reins of power aren’t affected by the problems of those
‘outside’, and they just don’t care.

A society that maintains so much exclusion simply can’t achieve development. No way. Development has to involve everyone.

I’ve been listening to the statements of the presidential candidates. Many of them say absolutely nothing about the majority of the Haitian people. You hear them seldom, if ever, even open their mouths to utter the words "the
people.” You never hear them say they will do anything with the participation of the population, but you often hear them say, "We’ll do this or that for the people!" In fact, no leader can do anything for anybody.

Another thing since independence: Haitians have known that they have the courage and that they must take responsibility for their own lives. They know that they can’t rely on others. With this in mind, when they find
organizations such as the Lambi Fund that support their initiatives, they become participants with all their energy and their whole being. They cooperate to make changes in the communities where they live.

Now, with the support of Lambi and other organizations, community members have been able to implement some development activities. For example, where there’s a corn mill, our organization helps members of the community
increase their production by providing seeds for them to produce more corn. But the mill can still go unused because people don’t have access to roads. They need the means to transform their raw products [into more durable ones that can survive long travel] and they also need roads so that they can go sell their products in better market conditions. We can’t build inter-city roads; that’s the responsibility of the government. But through konbit,
collective work teams, we can help construct paths that will allow farmers to go from one place to another, walking with their donkeys. That's how we’re implementing a few small programs of alternative development as a first step in a comprehensive intervention. That's how I see things.

The Lambi Fund is trying to help those organizations that have identified problems in their communities and are trying to resolve them. But even when people already know the means to solve a problem, there will always be
financial issues, because for each activity in a development process, there must be money. So we sit down and talk to them, we work with them.

But giving money for community development activities isn’t the only work we do. We also have a support function of giving hope. The community members are facing major problems and have identified the solutions, but they want our help. We see how they envisage the planning and implementation of programs to bring change to their lives. We listen to what people have to say. We help them find the knowledge, resources and know-how to implement their projects. We educate and train the members of this organization, we pass on techniques for management, we strengthen the organization itself. We help people move through the processes to achieve their goals so they can become independent.

Now they create management committees, they appoint a coordinating committee, and you can feel the momentum. These people’s hopes are buoyed with the appearance of a small business they’ve managed to put on track. We can see the light that springs from this little hope that starts to shine brighter and brighter through everything else.

Consider, for example, the management and operation of that corn mill I talked about. Customers come and pay to have their grain processed into flour. Now with the education we’re providing the mill owners with, the
community organization learns to better manage the money they earn. They know they need to save some of that money to use later to repair the mill if it breaks down. They know they must be able to cope with any problem that
might arise. They have to be able to eventually buy another mill. They have to pay wages to the operator who runs the mill. Part of the money should go to fund the petty cash they keep to lend some money to group members, etc. So, it’s a whole chain of actions in which each activity leads to another activity.

It’s in the process of organizational development that people understand and learn that they must they must assert their rights and that they must demand what the government or the authorities owes them. So the work we do isn’t only implementing small development programs, because how could we change the economy that way? We’re also helping people to survive, to resist, to get the change they need.

After the earthquake of January 12, things got more complicated but regardless, I think there is hope in the air. Don’t you see how all the people move without getting tired like ants do, how they’re trying to reestablish their lives with their own hands? You’ve visited some camps; you saw the small businesses they’ve created. They make these small investments because nobody is doing anything serious to help them, because they’ve
gotten little to none of the aid.

My dream is that there be real development in Haiti. As I said, these small community development initiatives we’re implementing now are simply for relief. We're just trying to help people to hold on until the legitimate
demands of the Haitian people can be met, until significant changes can really be made; that’s why we call them alternatives.

Another part of my dream is that we have a responsible government. Progressive ideas have to come forth so that they can really make positive and tangible changes. And there has to be space for participation by all
citizens who’ve courageously begun the development of their communities with their own means, however modest. Change will come when the people are engaged right at the heart of things.

For more information, see www.lambifund.org.

Many thanks to Joseph N. Pierre and Pro Bilingual Interpreter Services for
translation of Josette’s interview.

*Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years.
She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of
Survival and Resistance. She coordinates Other Worlds,
www.otherworldsarepossible.org, which promotes social and economic

alternatives. She is also associate fellow of the Institute for Policy
Studies.*

2010-11-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

Haitian Farmers Report:

"The Lambi Fund Saves Lives!"

By Leonie Hermantin
In an effort to assess the lingering impact of the January 12, 2010 earthquake on Haiti's rural communities, the Lambi Fund of Haiti's team of staff and board members embarked on a fact finding journey which took them to the departments of the Artibonite and the Northwest. Post-earthquake statistics indicate that over 600,000 internationally displaced persons (IDPs) left Port-au-Prince and migrated en masse to Haiti's provinces with a great majority heading for the Artibonite, the North and the Northwest.

The first stop in an itinerary that took us from Port-au-Prince to Haiti's most Northwestern town, Mole St. Nicholas, was at the Center for Plantain Propagation where we met with members of two partner organizations, Peasants Organization of Gwo Mon and Peasants Organization of Sél (AGPGM and APS). The meeting's agenda as set by the organizations included discussions about Lambi Fund's emergency assistance campaign and the work implemented at the Center.

As anticipated, we were all touched by moving accounts of earthquake stories shared by all. We heard of the tears shed over fallen relatives and neighbors.

We were all moved by the narratives of solidarity and mutual support extended to total strangers who walked into their lives traumatized, wounded and seeking support. Our partners told the stories that we would hear along the way. Stories of communities overwhelmed by refugees, men and women eager to help but wondering how they would all survive with their meager supplies of food and water, in the absence of any type of assistance.

Mr. Josephat, a member of APS recalled tearfully:

"I had 21 people, strangers staying with me and my family. We did not think twice about welcoming them, but we had not yet figured out how they would be cared for or how they would be fed.
When we heard about Lambi Fund's program to help impacted families, I was so happy that I cried. I cried because I was touched and shocked that people who had been at the center of this disaster had the time to think about us.
I was so proud to be a member of a strong organization, and I really deeply understood why being organized is the path to a better life. We would have been left to our own devices without Lambi Fund's support.
The government never came and the NGOs which did drop by brought free food supplies and their methods of distribution stripped us of our dignity."

His sentiments were echoed throughout our visits in the Northwest. Haitian peasants continued to reiterate that Lambi Fund delivered aid respectfully through the direct engagement of partner communities.

Phase II: Expanding Food Production

Reports from all communities visited confirmed that the second phase of Lambi Fund's emergency assistance program focusing on food production and food security was a total success. Nearly all farmers from Gwo Mon to Gwo Sab shared their succes stories of fast growing cultivation within two months of the earthquake. Thanks to Lambi Fund's support, partner communities generated bountiful harvests of peas, vegetables and corn for consumption and sale at local markets.

In Mawotyé, farmers were less successful with the Emergency Fund's second phase because they purchased most of their seeds from a government agency which was selling hybrid seeds donated by the international community. This unfortunate deviation from their tradition of acquiring local seeds proved very costly. According to disappointed farmers, with the execption of corn cultivation, the harvest for peas, okra, millet and other vegetables was dismal. The farmers said that they have learned their lesson and will return to purchasing local seeds.

In all communities visited, farmers reported that their ongoing projects were now proceeding on-course following justifiable post-earthquake interruptions. In Gwo Mon, activities related to plantain production, sale and processing were going strong.

"I was so proud to be a member of a strong organization, and I really deeply understood why being organized is a path to a better life."

Members of KFTK-NW in Remon, spoke of the importance of the Lambi Fund's support immediately following the earthquake and the Second Phase of assistance focusing on food security and sustainability. In Gwo Sab, farmers, fishermen and market women thanked Lambi Fund for its support of their efforts to modernize their fishing practices and to capitalize the women's microcredit fund. Members enumerated in very somber tones the names of all the men who perished at sea in the past - victims to the elements and the rudimentary boats they used for fishing. Gwo Sab's collaboration with Lambi Fund has resulted in the purchase of new motor boats, is saving lives and helping build a more sustainable future for their community.

Moving Forward

This trip into the Artibonite and Northwestern parts of Haiti illustrated the undeniable fact that Haiti's farmers rightly reflect the post-earthquake psyche of those in urban communities. Haitians, throughout the entire country, are all overcoming the immense trauma of January's earthquake.

Like their urban counterparts in Port-au-Prince, Haitian farmers are determined to be part of their country's reconstruction. Lambi Fund is proud to be a tool which will assist them in the realization of these dreams and visions for a stronger Haiti. In addition to continuing our support of sustainable economic and environmental activities, Lambi Fund has pledged to amplify these voices and their determination to be included in this historic moment for nation building in Haiti.

2010-11-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Tomas Hits Haiti

5 November 2010- The island nation of Haiti braced for Hurricane Tomas to hit its country on Friday. Hurricane Tomas hit Southwest Haiti first- bringing heavy rains and heavy flooding to towns in that region. Lambi Fund field monitors also report that the community of Leogane is "underwater."

Many feared that Tomas would tear through the already fragile city of Port-au-Prince. For the millions living in tent cities with little to no shelter this prospect spelled disaster. Tomas did not hit Port-au-Prince as hard with heavy rains and not much wind.

Lambi Fund staff are reporting heavy rainfall and strong winds in the Northwest. There is much flooding all over the coastal areas of Haiti.

In the aftermath of the hurricane, flooding can jeopardize the Cholera epidemic. Clean water and sanitary latrines are important in containing cholera and the flooding will have a negative impact on water quality. Lambi Fund continues implementation of water projects for rainwater cisterns and latrines to improve potable water and increase sanitation- which will minimize the impact of waterborne diseases like Cholera.

2010-11-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

Pennies for Pigs, Pigs for Haiti

Last Spring, students at Stedman Elementary School in Denver, CO found a unique way to help their friends in Haiti rebuild after the earthquake. Children throughout the school gathered their spare change and worked to raise money to purchase pigs for families in Haiti. After a school-wide effort, Stedman surpassed their fundraising goal and earned $1,400 for the Lambi Fund of Haiti. To celebrate their efforts, Stedman's principal kissed a pig! Watch the movie below to see how BIG things can happen when you start with a simple idea and the desire to help.

2010-09-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

Meet US Board Member for the Lambi Fund of Haiti: Marie Marthe St.Cyr

The Lambi Fund of Haiti's Board President, Marie Marthe St. Cyr sat down with us to discuss how and why Lambi Fund is an agent of change in Haiti.

Watch what she has to say!

2010-09-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

Lambi Fund Releases its 2009 Annual Report

23 September 2010- The Lambi Fund of Haiti's 2009 Annual Report is finally here! 2009 was a very busy year for Lambi Fund as 12 new projects began and over 50,000 individuals were impacted. Continued work in over 30 communities on 20 sustainable development projects throughout Haiti focused on the following program initiatives:

- Sustainable Agriculture

- Community Microcredit

- Animal Husbandry

- Environment

- Organizational and Leadership Training

The Lambi Fund of Haiti's 'Million Tree Campaign' is building momentum as over 300,000 fruit and forest trees were planted throughout Haiti in community-led reforestation efforts. Lambi Fund held four regional conferences on sustainable agriculture, gender equity and leadership training. These workshops represented an important opportunity to provide peasant leaders with the tools needed to effectively impact change in their communities.

From everyone here at Lambi Fund, 2009 was a truly inspirational year. Work with organized communities, effective grassroots groups, and empowered men and women throughout rural Haiti continue to be the driving force behind our work. Please take the time to read Lambi Fund's 2009 Annual Report (also available in a PDF file) as I'm sure you will find our annual breakdown to be an engaging read. The Annual Report provides you with a breakdown of all of Lambi Fund's new projects in 2009, examples of holistic approaches to community development, financial reports and how organizational and leadership training is changing the face of Haiti.

Most importantly: a VERY big thank you to all of our supporters in 2009....grassroots change comes from engaged individuals like YOU.

Mesi, mesi!

2010-09-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

Eight Days: A Story of Haiti

By: Edwidge Danticat

Illustrated by: Alix Delinois

Renowned Haitian author, Edwidge Danticat's newest novel Eight Days: A Story of Haiti is out now. Her newest book tells the story of an eight year old boy named

Junior stuck in the rumble after Haiti's January 2010 earthquake. Upon being rescued, he tells his rescuers what he did for each of those eight days.

This is a beautiful story of healing, survival and hope in Haiti. As Ms. Danticat tells the story through a child's eyes, she shows the true strength and spirit of Haiti.

Edwidge Danticat has generously agreed to donate a portion of all book sales to the Lambi Fund of Haiti to support rebuilding after the earthquake. Get your copy now!

2010-09-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

Wave for Change....Really Brings Change!

Neutrogena's Wave for Change campaign came to a close last week and proudly announced that with the help of thousands of teens across America, the campaign achieved

its goal of raising $200,000. The Wave for Change campaign empowered teenagers to support the cause of their choice on Neutrogena's facebook page.

For every Oil-Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefr

uit product and Wave Sonic Power Cleanser sold, Neutrogena agreed to donate $1. Based on a quiz that participants took on Neutrogena's facebook, the Lambi Fund of Haiti will receive 23% of the funding! In all, Neutrogena's Wave for Change will donate $41,400 to the Lambi Fund of Haiti to support earthquake rebuilding efforts in Haiti.

This is a landmark moment in that, teenagers took charge and played an important role in impacting positive social change. Thanks to the thousands of teenagers who participated, Neutrogena, and Global Giving- countless earthquake survivors will be empowered to rebuild their lives.

To read more about the Lambi Fund of Haiti visit www.lambifund.org.

For earthquake rebuilding updates and progress click here.

Follow Lambi Fund on Facebook or Twitter.

2010-09-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

Meet US Board Member for the Lambi Fund of Haiti: Jay Schoenberger

Not too long ago, we had a chance to sit down and talk with Jay Schoenberger, US Board Member of the Lambi Fund of Haiti. He told us why he is so passionate about working with Lambi Fund and how Lambi Fund's grassroots model is so effective. Jay stressed that partnerships with local Haitian peasant organizations empower entire communities and spark genuine change.

Watch the video to see what Jay has to say!

Visit www.lambifund.org for more information.

Follow Lambi Fund on Facebook and Twitter today.

See more of Lambi Fund's videos on YouTube.

2010-07-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

Wave for Change!

Just days ago, Neutrogena announced an exciting new campaign that empowers teens to make a "Wave for Change" and the Lambi Fund of Haiti is proud to be a part! Brand Ambassadors Vanessa Hudgens and Hayden Panattiere kicked off the campaign stating, "Often people want to participate, but they don't know how so the fact Neutrogena is opening the door and kids are getting to be a part of something and help the world is an amazing thing to be a part of."

Now until August 23rd, you can visit Neutrogena's Facebook page and take a quiz to help the company determine how to distribute up to $200,000 to eligible GlobalGiving partners (we're one of them!). $1 will be donated for each Wave Sonic Power Cleanser and Oil-Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit purchased.

Once you 'like' Neutrogena's Facebook page, you can read a featured Lambi Fund story and see Lambi Fund photos. Pretty neat stuff! Be sure to check it out.

2010-07-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

Six Months Later: An Update on Quake Recovery

Monday marked the six month anniversary since the devastating earthquake struck Haiti on January 12. By now stories of immense loss and unimaginable damage are well known. Over $8 billion has been pledged in international relief, yet rebuilding continues to be slow. Hundreds of thousands of people still live in tent cities and rubble litters the street. At first glance, it may appear that little or no progress is being made, yet the Lambi Fund of Haiti's unprecedented partnerships with local grassroots organizations throughout Haiti have been yielding significant results for thousands of earthquake survivors.

Support Local Economy

In the immediate weeks following the earthquake, the Lambi Fund activated its key partnerships with local peasant organizations. After convening regional meetings with local grassroots leaders to determine recovery priorities, Lambi Fund disbursed over $700,000 to 43 community organizations. As you can see in the photo on the right, Lambi Fund partner organizations were able to quickly and efficiently distribute emergency recovery funds to its members.

These funds supported the local economy when communities purchased needed essentials like locally grown food, clothing, and medical supplies, as well as seeds and tools for local farmers. Women's organizations were able to protect and advocate for women, whose vulnerability increased in the tent cities.

Helping Rural Communities

Over a half million earthquake survivors who lost everything, fled the city and streamed into rural communities to live with friends and family. Emergency funds to these community organizations helped them survive the disaster.

Ostazia Ogusrten, a beneficiary of the earthquake recovery program, has 10 children and lives in northwest Haiti with her husband. She explained, "After the Jan. 12 earthquake destroyed Port-au-Prince, our household increased by another 10 people. It is thanks to my community organization and the Lambi Fund of Haiti that we got the relief we so desperately needed. Thank you. Thank you VERY much."

Focus on Rebuilding is Critical
At the six month milestone, it is important to look forward towards Haiti's future. Much work is left to be done and the Lambi Fund of Haiti continues to urge that rebuilding include all members of Haitian society, as well as the promotion of local business enterprises and the strengthening of civil society. To learn more about Lambi Fund's long term rebuilding priorities, click here.

True to Our Mission
The Lambi Fund of Haiti was founded in 1994 by Haitians and North Americans. Its mission is to assist the popular democratic movement in Haiti. The Lambi Fund provides financial resources, training and technical assistance that promotes the social and economic empowerment of the Haitian people.

Please visit our website at www.lambifund.org

Click here to donate to Lambi Fund of Haiti

2010-06-22T09:58:00.001-07:00

Always Organic, Always Local

In light of Monsanto's recent $4 million donation in seeds to Haiti, many are asking whether or not the Lambi Fund of Haiti uses GMO seeds.

Lambi Fund uses only organic seeds that are indigenous to Haiti. In efforts to increase agriculture sustainability, Lambi
Fund works with local farmers to teach organic farming methods that improve crop outputs and protect the environment. In fact, Lambi Fund is proud to partner with thousands of peasant farmers throughout Haiti who promote sustainable agriculture in Haiti through the use of seed banks. Seed banks allow Haitian communities to plant high-quality, inexpensive seeds year after year.
Providing Haitians with seeds for a seed bank and sustainable, organic agriculture training empowers farmers to feed Haitian communities themselves.
The Lambi Fund of Haiti, does not and will not use GMO or hybrid seeds from Monsanto or any other similar corporation. All of Lambi Fund's agriculture programs will continue in partnership with local Haitian farmers' organizations and in promotion of local, indigenous seeds.
Support the use of local seed banks in Haiti now.

2010-06-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

Honor Your Father this Father's Day with the Gift of Seeds in Haiti.

The days are longer, nights warmer and summer is here! This year Father's Day is June 20th- an especially important day for everyone at the Lambi Fund of Haiti. It's a day to honor all of the strong fathers, grandfathers and men in our lives.

Since the earthquake, Lambi Fund has worked hand-in-hand with 1,000's of great fathers who have selflessly opened up their homes, provided food, water and what little clothing they could to earthquake survivors in need. This daily display of resilience and humble generosity has been a constant inspiration to Lambi Fund.

Honor the special men in your life with the gift of helping fathers throughout Haiti rebuild their country. Take the 1,260 farmers from 42 peasant organizations who are working with Lambi Fund to plant more crops and increase crop outputs.

You can support these farmers by providing organic seeds, starting a community tool bank, or by purchasing an ox-plow. Each and every one of these gifts is accompanied with training on improved farming methods that preserve the environment and increase crop yields. It's a 2-for-1 deal!

Show Dad you care an purchase one of these gifts in his honor. Don't forget to print out his tribute certificate and Lambi Fund Father's Day card (available in English and Kreyol).

To our Fathers,

Karen Ashmore

Executive Director of the Lambi Fund of Haiti

P.S. Complete the gift with a Lambi Fund t-shirt, coffee mug, or hoodie from the Lambi Store

mbi Store

2010-05-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

Haitian Women Play a Central Role in Haitian Agriculture/Support Haitian Peasant-Led Projects, Support the Lambi Fund

By special guest blogger: Ezili Danto

Haitian women play a central role in Haitian agriculture

For more info, go to - The Lambi Fund supports projects run by women. The Lambi Fund supports Haiti peasant-led agricultural projects. (Overview of Lambi Fund Programs.).

30 years ago, Haiti grew all the rice it needed . Recently, former President Clinton apologized for forcing corporate agribusiness subsidies on defenseless Haiti during his term in office. This destroyed Haiti's rice production and forced Haiti to now import more than 80% of its food, leading to Clorox hunger, starvation, despair and death, not to mention overcrowding in Port au Prince when peasants where forced off their land in search for sweatshop jobs in the capital. Yet, today, under the rubric of "Haiti Relief", USAID is pushing corporate seeds on Haiti. This new twist to agricultural dependency will not help Haiti. Monsanto, through USAID's WINNER program has tied itself to the money pool for corporate fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides required to plant its corporate seeds. This is not a gift but a large biotech company entering the false benevolence game of USAID in the name of 300,000 dead earthquake victims. Corporate seeds are not sustainable development for Haitian women in Haiti. Solidarity with Haiti would mean USAID would stop using raised funds to purchase foreign subsidized rice, dump it into Haiti destroying Haiti's agriculture; would stop using donation and tax-payer dollars to purchase big agribusiness products while denying Haiti's domestic food sovereignty. The money US tax payers are footing to help Haiti should be helping Haiti, not Monsanto, USAID "experts" salaries, shipping companies and such others. The only sustainable solution is to assist in supporting Haiti's national food production, consumption and local distribution. (See, Ezili/HLLN links at Rich countries use trade deals to seize food from the world's hungriest people and Economic proposals that make sense for the reality of Haiti - The Western economic model doesn't fit an independent Black nation.)

"What would it take to transform Haiti's economy such that its role in the global economy is no longer that of providing cheap labor for sweatshops? What would it take for hunger to no longer be the norm, for the country no longer to depend on imports and hand-outs, and for Port-au-Prince's slums to no longer contain 85% of the city's residents? What would it take for the hundreds of thousands left homeless by the earthquake to have a secure life, with income?

According to Haitian peasant organizations, at the core of the solutions is a commitment on the part of the government to support family agriculture, with policies to make the commitment a reality.

Haiti is the only country in the hemisphere where the majority is still rural. Estimates of the percentage of Haiti's citizens who remain farmers span from 60.5% (UN, 2006) to 80% (the figure used by peasant groups)." (For complete article, go to: Agriculture and Haiti's Long-Term Future: An Analysis by Beverly Bell)

* "The Lambi Fund - Sowing the seeds of independence

Rural Haitians are caught in a vicious cycle of poverty...Many Haitian peasants are forced into unfair sharecropping agreements with wealthy landowners because they lack the capital and resources to start out on their own.

Seeding grassroots change

Lambi Fund of Haiti is donating high-quality seeds to two women's peasant organizations to help them build seed banks for their farming communities. This is a gift that keeps on giving...

Empowering rural communities, overcoming discrimination

Paired with this project, Lambi Fund will hold a series of regional trainings to further empower rural communities to overcome discrimination, to fight for their rights and use their skills to change discriminatory government policies.

Hunger fast facts:

In the past five years, Lambi Fund has supported 100 peasant-led projects that trained over 12,500 people in sustainable agriculture, animal husbandry, reforestation and leadership skills.
Lambi Fund's activities have impacted over 150,000 community members, many during the hurricanes in fall 2008.

Voices of Change: While I am a bit nervous about the country's current economic condition, I am extremely thankful that, unlike my counterparts in neighboring villages, I no longer feel hopeless and dependent on

others. Life is still hard for me, but I am hopeful… I have my own business and my children will not starve. —Fifine Jean Louis, recipient of a Lambi Fund micro-loan"

This project has taught us how to protect our fields and the surrounding mountains so that we have more crops, cleaner water and less erosion. Through Lambi, we have the power to make better lives for ourselves. —Farmer" (Source: Fighting Hunger From the Ground Up by American Jewish World Service)

*********************************

How to Start Helping Haiti- WHAT CAN YOU DO?

1. One way to help food sovereignty in Haiti and sustainable agriculture is to support the Lambi Fund's work. Go to: How You Can Help 2. Take Action: Stop intro corporate seeds to Haiti 3. Tell Congress: Fund Local Food for Haiti 4. Knowledge is power. Understand why sweatshops don't work and why Haiti's workers - rural and urban- need your solidarity: Poverty-Wage Assembly Plants as Development Strategy in Haiti and Rebuilding Haiti - the Sweatshop Hoax (Betrayal of Haiti's majority by Liberal Democrats); Ezili/HLLN links at Rich countries use trade deals to seize food from the world's hungry... ; Economic proposals that make sense for the reality of Haiti - The Western economic model doesn't fit an independent Black nation, 2007 by HLLN.)

2010-05-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Haitian Flag Day!

Today is a very important day in Haiti because over 200 years ago, on May 18th 1803, the Haitian flag was created in Arcahaie (just outside of Port-au-Prince). Since then, May 18th has been celebrated as Haitian Flag Day. The flag is an important symbol of Haitian freedom, national pride, and individual liberty.

Today as we look back on the proud history of Haiti, the first and only republic to hold a successful slave rebellion, the Lambi Fund of Haiti looks forward to a promising and united future as Haiti rebuilds.

In honor of democracy and continued social empowerment, help celebrate Haiti's proud past by helping rebuild for tomorrow.

With just,

...$25 you can start a tool bank, allowing farmers to use improved tools to cultivate the land and increase productivity,

...$50 you can buy seed s for a seed bank and provide sustainable agriculture training to a community,

...$100 you can purchase a goat and training so that community groups improve their livelihoods with a successful enterprise,

...and $500 you can support women's programs by replenishing community microcredit funds and providing valuable leadership and technical training.

These are the type of resources Haitian community organizations want and need. Strengthening these rural communities' capacities will ensure successful recovery in Haiti. With the past support of donors like you, we have proudly supported democracy in Haiti for over 16 years. Lambi Fund has partnered with community groups on more than 175 projects and touched almost two million lives.

Help continue the legacy and donate today.

In honor of Haiti,

Karen Ashmore

Executive Director,

The Lambi Fund of Haiti

P.S. Thank-you for your generosity.

Visit www.lambifund.org for more information.

2010-05-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

Progress Amid the Chaos: Lambi Fund Responds to the Earthquake Disaster in Haiti

By: Sarah Leavitt

On January 12 the ground shook. It trembled like never before. In just a few horrifying moments, a massive earthquake destroyed Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, and major provincial cities like Jacmel, Léogâne, and Petit-Goâve.

The world watched in horror as the toll on human life unfolded. Never before, declared UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, has a natural disaster been so devastating.

The Presidential Palace crumbled, UN headquarters were destroyed, building after building collapsed like pancakes.

Unbelievably, 250,000 residences were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable.

The horrible stench of death lurked in the city for weeks afterwards. Over 200,000 people were killed. More than 150,000 individuals injured and left to live life as amputees. In the blink of an eye, nearly 2 million Haitians were rendered homeless.

Photo: Roberto (Bear) Guerra

Responding to such a catastrophe has not been easy. Through the rubble, roads were impossible to navigate and trying to coordinate the influx of international donor agencies was declared a logistical nightmare.

Earthquake survivors left with no homes, no food, and no jobs quickly realized that aid distribution would be slow and unreliable.

Thus over 500,000 affected residents caught the first bus they could find to live with family members and friends in the rural provinces of Haiti.

This massive migration of internally displaced persons has wreaked havoc on already impoverished rural communities, where the average person still survives on less than $2 a day. Some rural populations (so much as) doubled overnight.

Keeping with the Haitian tradition of peasant solidarity, rural communities have been quick to take in quake survivors and have shared with them everything they have. The 80-year-old mother of the field monitor for Fon Lanbi Pou Ayiti has taken in 39 people in her small house.

Christianne Adrien, a street vendor, and her husband Ilson, a farmer, took in 18 members of her extended family. "If it were for the money, we would never have done it."

After the earthquake, more than a half million people fled Port au Prince and relocated to rural areas.

They, along with thousands of peasants throughout Haiti have spent what little they have on clean water, medical supplies, clothing, bags of rice, and cans of beans for their new neighbors. Peasants have slaughtered precious cows to bring meat to patients at local hospitals.

Christianne continues, "We did this because we wanted them to have a life. If God saved the life of some people from a catastrophe of that size, it's so that we can protect the life of others. People have to live; you have to receive them."

Clearly, the earthquake has touched each and every Lambi Fund of Haiti staff member who along with their fellow citizens sustained damages and suffered personal losses. In spite of these hardships, Lambi Fund staff members sprang into action to help address the urgent needs of 43 rural communities impacted greatly by the massive exodus out of the capital.

In collaboration with our grassroots partners, Lambi Fund convened regional assemblies of local peasants to define immediate needs and prioritize rebuilding efforts.

In the first phase, Lambi Fund focused on the delivery of food and other essentials to rural communities to meet the immediate needs of earthquake survivors who had resettled to these communities.

With the help of regional committees and other partners, the Lambi Fund was able to distribute the following:

Done (wired $712k)
Grants to 22 grassroots groups in Artibonite, which has received over 162,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Port au Prince - to buy clothes, food, meds, and other essentials and infuse the local economy
Cash disbursements to cover losses of Fon Lanbi Pou Ayiti staff members in Port au Prince
Grants to two grassroots women's groups in Port au Prince who lost everything in the quake - to buy clothes, food, meds, and other essentials and infuse the local economy
Grants to four grassroots groups in the Northwest, which has received over 45,000 IDPs - to buy clothes, food, meds, and other essentials and infuse the local economy
Grants to 17 grassroots groups in the South, which has received over 25,000 IDPs - to buy clothes, food, meds, and other essentials and infuse the local economy
Distributed medications (value $8K, donated by UUSC) to hospital in Gwomon
Distributed tents and basic supplies to 17 grassroots groups in South (donated by Hope for Haiti)
Grants to 42 peasant organizations for Farmers Credit Funds so that 1,260 farmers in the Artibonite, South, West and Northwest departments can plant increased crops to feed themselves and IDPs with locally grown food.

Next steps in rebuilding Haiti include focusing on sustaining and strengthening development in rural areas including:

Mid and long term ($1M)
Increase micro-enterprises with additional community microcredit funds
Increase organic, locally-grown food and clean water with expanded sustainable agriculture, reforestation and water access projects
Increase livelihoods with expanded sustainable development projects, such as pig and goat breeding, grain mills and sugar cane mills
Build 880 latrines to prevent spread of disease and increase sanitation in rural areas, as a result of rapidly growing population from IDPs
Distribute 100 wheelchairs to the large number of amputees whose limbs were crushed in the earthquake.
Expand women's programs to address the special needs of women (who are more vulnerable to domestic violence and sexual assault in tent cities but several organized women's groups are standing up for the rights of women and children)

Advocacy Efforts

Supporting Policy Advocacy to express the voice of the Haitian people in rebuilding Haiti will be an important component of long-term rebuilding plans. Lambi Fund is committed to taking a leadership role in advocacy by speaking out on behalf of rural communities, by creating strong partnerships with a coalition of like-minded groups working together to rebuild Haiti, and by supporting the needs of women, particularly within the context of the rebuilding effort now underway. As foreign corporations and governments jockey for rebuilding contracts, the Haitian voice has been neglected.

Photo: Roberto (Bear) Guerra

This cannot continue; the voice of the majority must be heard.

In order to incorporate Haitians and their perspectives, Lambi Fund has developed a five point plan for prioritizing rebuilding in Haiti:

National sovereignty. The ownership of rebuilding Haiti must come from the Haitian people. Real change must come from the majority poor. Not from politicians. Not from the elite. And not from foreign governments. Haitians must be the change agents through participatory democracy.
Decentralization. The migration of over 500,000 earthquake survivors from the rubble of Port-au-Prince to rural Haiti offers the opportunity to create a decentralized infrastructure that can lead to regional centers for economic development, better roads, public education, health care, social services and access to potable water and sanitation.
Stimulate local economy. The earthquake offers a unique opportunity for the international community to work in partnership with Haitian peasant groups to increase our capacity to feed the country and support the local economy.
Rebuild Haiti right. In addition to true land reform, Port au Prince and other damaged towns must be rebuilt with disaster resistant building codes that are rigorously monitored. Rebuilding must be done by Haitians, who are desperately in need of a boost in fair and equitable employment opportunities.
Environment must be at the center of restoring Haiti. Deforestation represents one of the greatest threats to Haiti's food security. Restoration of the environment is crucial to sustaining a functioning economy and productive agricultural sector, providing sufficient employment, and recreating natural buffers against inevitable environmental challenges, which include climate change.

Lambi Fund recognizes the critical role that will be played by women and farmers in the rebuilding of Haiti, and will continue to advocate for their inclusion in the creation of a plan and a new vision for Haiti.

Read the Lambi Fund of Haiti's Spring 2010 Newsletter in its entirety.

2010-04-07T14:07:00.000-07:00

A Bottom-Up Transformation

BY: Leonie Hermantin

In August 2008, while working in Haiti's upper Artibonite region, I visited the village of Rivye Blanch as the deputy director of the Lambi Fund of Haiti, which supports the community's sustainable economic development and reforestation projects. The people of Rivye Blanch, represented by their leader, requested that I convey their message of support to then candidate Barack Obama.
``When you go back to the other side of the water,'' said Eddy, president of the Association of Peasants from Rivye Blanch, ``please tell Barack Obama that the people of Haiti support his candidacy. Please tell him that his victory will also be ours.''
Last week, I attended a special ceremony organized by President Obama at the White House in honor of President René Préval's visit to Washington. As Obama pledged his country's support for Haiti's reconstruction, I could not stop thinking about Eddy and the people of Rivye Blanch. I wish that Eddy could have heard Obama speak of his strong commitment to Haiti and to the Haitian people.
I would have also loved to see Eddy's reaction to President Préval's inclusion of ``decentralization'' in his government's list of priorities for a new Haiti. According to Préval, the government plans to rebuild Haiti through the decentralization of major institutions by providing basic services such as healthcare and education to areas where about 60 percent of the Haitian people live.
Eddy and the people of Rivye Blanch would have been pleased to know that such plans were on the drawing board, but their reaction would be one of guarded optimism. They have heard these promises before, in the aftermath of hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters; promises that quickly evaporated when the funds were extended elsewhere and the attention of the world waned.
The people of Haiti, both rural and urban, understand that it can no longer be ``more of the same.'' But as the Haitian government and the international community are poised to discuss plans for reconstruction the voice of the majority has been muted. While we have heard from the Haitian government, the international community and Haiti's business interests, we have not heard from the people themselves in an organized and coherent manner.
In order to address this gap, the Lambi Fund convened regional assemblies of dozens of Haitian grassroots organizations to define and prioritize rebuilding needs. They focused in their conversations on how to sustain the needs for the mid- and long-term to rebuild and strengthen Haiti.
In their statement about the reconstruction process, peasant leaders asserted that Haiti was a sovereign nation and that the vision and articulation of a new Haiti should come from the Haitian people themselves. They also proposed that the government make decentralization a priority by ensuring through investments that cities and towns in the provinces and rural communities become vital centers for national productivity.
Moreover, grassroots leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the environment, acknowledging that deforestation represents one of the greatest threats to Haiti's food security. Pointing to international relief strategies, they asserted that some of the activities adopted by the international community are threatening to disrupt the local economy if they continue to plan relief under the assumption that goods must be imported.
The earthquake, they argue, offers a unique opportunity for the international community to work in partnership with Haitian peasants to increase their capacity to feed the country and support the local economy.
If President Obama had the opportunity to speak to Eddy and to the people of Rivye Blanch, they would have reminded him that supporting Haiti's successful bottom-up transformation would be one of his most memorable legacies. Haiti's victory would also be his.

Leonie Hermantin is deputy director of the Lambi Fund of Haiti. She lives in Miami. You may contact her at Leonie@lambifund.org

2010-01-26T18:08:00.000-08:00

Lambi Fund Update: A Path to Recovery in Haiti

The days following the earthquake were a busy and stressful time for Lambi Fund. Contacting staff and partner organizations proved to be a difficult task given the lack of phone service, power, internet and destruction of major roads to rural communities.

On January 16, 2010 staff in the US finally heard from Lambi Fund’s country director in Haiti. While staff in Haiti have been struggling to survive in a city that has been demolished, we here overjoyed to hear that all Lambi Fund staff members were alive and suffered relatively minor injuries.

January 18, 2010: Lambi Fund Country Director Josette Perard finally made it through the debris and checkpoints to our office space located in downtown Port-au-Prince. It sustained damages but is still standing! Important documents and equipment were salvaged for the time being as it lacked electricity needed for the office to be functional.

January 19-24, 2010: Staff have been working out of our Field Coordinator’s house; one of the few houses still standing that has electricity. Lambi Fund’s office building is being used as shelter for those that have been displaced.

Several Lambi Fund led regional meetings have convened in rural communities outside, under trees throughout Haiti. These communities are currently experiencing tremendous rates of outmigration that are severely stressing already limited resources. The 1,000’s of refugees streaming into these villages daily desperately need immediate relief. As such our local partner organizations and Lambi Fund have begun distributing major essentials like food, water and medical supplies to displaced persons. Shelters are in the process of being built as well.

January 25, 2010: Staff finally managed to purchase gas for Lambi Fund’s generator. The office has electricity, is up and running and is fully operational! Continued discussions with grassroots organizations in rural communities have led to the development of a four-phase recovery plan that will be critical in Haiti’s long-term recovery:

1. Distribute food and emergency essentials to those migrating from Port-au-Prince to rural areas.

Repair damage in rural communities
Expand sustainable agriculture programs to meet the increased demand for food in rural areas
Increase opportunities for sustainable income for those displaced by the earthquake so that the influx of people migrating to countryside can start earning sustainable livelihoods

Play a major role in expanding resources, rebuilding, and providing refugees with the means for economic livelihoods in rural communities by supporting this important long-term recovery program in Haiti today.

2010-01-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

Watch Lambi Fund Executive Director on CBS Denver channel 4 as her and her adopted daughter from Haiti discuss the earthquake.

http://www.cbs4denver.com/video/?id=66589@kcnc.dayport.com

2010-01-13T15:35:00.000-08:00

Lambi Fund of Haiti Earthquake Recovery

The strong 7.3 earthquake that rocked Haiti has left this impoverished nation in a state of ruin.

Nearly every building over one-story has collapsed. The Presidential Palace has collapsed. Schools have fallen, hospitals have fallen, and hotels have fallen. The ministries of finance and other depart-ments, Supreme Court, and Parliament have all collapsed as well.

This strong earthquake and its 20+ aftershocks have pounded Haiti and destroyed many of the sus-tainable development projects run by grassroots groups that are partnering with the Lambi Fund of Haiti. Here are our plans for helping communities recover:

The Lambi Fund of Haiti is not a first responder, but a second responder meaning Lambi Fund will be there to help Haiti rebuild long after the relief service providers leave.

Help members of peasant groups get food and essentials for their families to re-establish their lives.
Help Lambi Fund field staff replace their belongings (food, clothing, furniture) that were lost in the quake. The sooner we help them get back on their feet, the sooner they can help peasant communities rebuild.
Recapitalize micro–credit funds run by peasant organizations so that people can replenish and continue their small businesses.
Rebuild grain mills, sugar cane mills and other economic development community enterprises lost in the earthquake. These buildings are the centers of communities’ economic livelihoods.
Repair rainwater cisterns so people will have a supply of safe drinking water.
Help peasant organizations buy goats, pigs, and chickens to replenish livestock. A few animals will quickly reproduce and provide offspring for animal husbandry projects.

To help our Haitian neighbors, please donate now!

Lambi Fund of Haiti
PO Box 18955
Washington DC 20036
(202)-833-3713

2010-01-12T21:53:00.000-08:00

Watch Lambi Fund Executive Director, Karen Ashmore, respond to news of recent earthquakes in Haiti.

2010-01-12T20:05:00.000-08:00

Lambi Fund just received this photo of the collapsed presidential building in Port-au-Prince, Haiti from friend Natania Etienne.

The damage in Haiti is catastrophic by all reports: the UN Ministah building has collapsed, Hotel Montana has collapsed, the center of Port-au-Prince destroyed, 1,000's are dead, countless residential homes are in ruin and electricity and phone lines are down.

Haiti needs your help now more than ever, donate at www.lambifund.org to help rebuild today.

2010-01-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

Just got word from a Lambi Fund board member that Presidential Palace, Ministries of Finance, Public Transport, Communications, Justice and Parliament have all collapsed. Delmas, where several Lambi Fund staff members live, was heavily damaged. Unibank (where we have our bank account) collapsed. People are going by on stretchers. No phone service, no electricity. Port au Prince dark except for fires. If stable buildings have collapsed, we know the grain mills, sugar cane mills and rainwater cisterns that Lambi Fund helped support have collapsed. To help rebuild, go to http://bit.ly/4ELiUs

2010-01-12T14:46:00.001-08:00

Major 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti today. Epicenter 10 miles SW of Port au Prince. Haiti needs our support!

2009-12-30T12:14:00.000-08:00

Hope you enjoyed reading Fall newsletter of the Lambi Fund of Haiti, packed with news and info from Haiti. Thanks to all of you who sent year-end donations and are making a difference in Haiti!

If you have not yet sent a gift, this is your last chance to send a tax deductible donation that will help support self-sustaining community organizations in Haiti.

You can click here and make a credit card donation now.

Or you can send a check dated 12/31/2009 to Lambi Fund of Haiti, PO Box 18955, Washington DC 20036.

Pase yon bon lane! Happy New Year!

2009-12-15T15:42:00.001-08:00

As a supporter of the Lambi Fund of Haiti, you know all too well about poverty in Haiti - where almost three in every four people are living on less than $2 a day.

The effects of such poverty are devastating to families like Marie's, a single mother of four, who could barely eke out a living for her family.

Marie's fortunes changed, however, when her community organization launched a goat breeding program with the Lambi Fund's support.

The Lambi Fund provided funds for Marie's community group to purchase 132 goats, materials for the goat enclosures, and veterinary medicine for treating the goats. Organization members built the pens, and now are managing the project of raising and selling the goats.

With goats to raise for sale, Marie is now able to make a living and provide food, health care, and education for her family.

At Lambi Fund, we don't give food aid, we partner with community organizations like Marie's to build their capacity with tools, seeds, livestock and knowhow. We work together to build lasting solutions to poverty and hunger, with dignity and respect. Click here to donate now.

People like you make all this possible, giving the funds necessary to provide Haitian organizations with the resources they need to build sustainable community enterprises. As a result:

More communities are able to feed their families and send their children to school.
New rainwater cisterns are improving the health of entire communities with access to safe drinking water.
Organic planting methods are improving the nutrient content of food while stabilizing the soil and minimizing erosion.
Reforestation projects are reversing an alarming trend of forest destruction that threatens further damage to the earth.
Thousands of people are learning the skills they need to for self-sufficient communities.
Micro-credit funds are financing successful community-run micro-enterprises.

With your past support, Lambi Fund has partnered with community groups on more than 175 projects and touched more than a million lives in Haiti in the past 15 years.

That's why I'm asking you to please make a donation to the Lambi Fund today, so that we can continue to bring hope and opportunity to families in Haiti.

On behalf of families like Marie's, and all those seeking hope in Haiti, please accept our heartfelt thanks for your support.

Peace,

Karen Ashmore

Executive Director

Five Ways Your Gift to Lambi Fund Makes a Difference

1. Promote self-sufficiency and economic strength among Haiti's poor.

2. Help create a fertile ground for democracy.

3. Help stamp out malnutrition by sustaining rural communities

4. End deforestation and promote care of the earth.

5. Teach proper farming methods that diminish erosion

Thank you for helping make a difference in Haiti!

2009-12-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

This holiday season, you can make a donation to the Lambi Fund of Haiti in honor of someone special. See our gift catalog at http://www.lambifund.org/support_catalog.shtml

By buying the items listed here, as well as in our complete gift catalog, you're making a symbolic purchase of the types of things rural Haitian community organizations need to build sustainable economic progress.

Here are some samples from our gift catalog, but you can click here to see all 20 items.

Tree Seedlings: $22
Green is Great
The Lambi Fund of Haiti is passionate about the environment, and believes that deforestation has critical impacts on food security and the environment. Haiti, described by the United Nations as "one of the most degraded countries in the world," suffered epic levels of flooding from recent hurricanes, which were exacerbated by severe soil erosion and deforestation.

Your gift will purchase one tree seedling, train local farmers on proper tree care, and plant and nurture the tree seedling until it has become properly substantiated.

To make a gift of tree seedlings, click here, enter $22 in the amount field and tree seedlings in the comments field.

Seeds: $50
Seeds for Tomorrow
The food crisis in Haiti is an urgent plea for more food. A seed bank enables Haitian communities to plant inexpensive, high-quality seeds and grow food to feed their families sustainably for years. Farmers have had to buy seeds at triple the cost of what they can earn from their crops.

Your gift will provide community members seeds for an organic seed bank and provide sustainable agriculture training, empowering Haitians to provide food for their families and increasing food security.

To make a gift of seeds, click here, enter $50 in the amount field and seeds in the comments field.

Goats: $100

The gift of a goat is a sustainable way to help a struggling family in Haiti. Goat breeding can be a pathway out of poverty. Goats can thrive on just about anything - even grass and leaves on the dry land in rural Haiti - so there is little cost for their upkeep. Goat meat is a popular food in Haiti, so there is a strong demand at the local market. Goats often have two or three kids a year, so a community organization that wants to start a self-sufficient goat breeding enterprise can see immediate success.

To make a gift of a goat, click here, enter $100 in the amount field and goat in the comments field.

Support Women: $500
When Women Win, We All Win
Women make up 70% of the world's poor and produce 80% of the developing world's food, yet they own less than 1% of the world's land. Sadly, this rings true in Haiti. Lambi Fund understands that economic progress in Haiti cannot be achieved without the help of women. Women are overlooked by government programs, receive lower wages, and have fewer opportunities for education.

Your gift to support women will pay for leadership, organizational, and technical training to women. This enables women to become leaders in their organizations and communities, and builds a lasting foundation for gender equity.

To make a gift to support women in Haiti, click here, enter $500 in the amount field and for women's programs in the comments field.

After making your contribution, don't forget to print out Lambi Fund gift cards to let your loved ones know about the gift you've made in their honor.

2009-12-01T08:58:00.000-08:00

Travel to Haiti with Lambi Fund March 14-19 and see firsthand some of the amazing work being done by grassroots groups in rural Haiti.This is a life changing opportunity to meet Haitians face to face and hear about their struggles and how their community is working to support economic justice, democracy and alternative sustainable development in Haiti. Come see how our partners raise food locally and offer sustainable alternatives to food aid.

For more info go to http://www.lambifund.org/news_travel.shtml

Sa je pa wè, kè pa santi.
What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't feel. (Haitian proverb)

While traveling through the countryside, we will meet with local grassroots organizations. Through Lambi Fund's support, these groups are creating small-scale sustainable projects that are making a tremendous difference in the lives of their members and their communities. In what is sure to be a moving and inspiring experience, we will spend three days in the Northwest visiting sustainable agriculture, fishing, potable water, and grain mill projects and talking with Haitian peasants that run these local enterprises.

Join us for an unforgettable trip that can change the way you see the world!

The delegation fee is $1500 per person for double occupancy (we will assign you with a roommate or you can pay $2000 for a single room). This fee includes all hotel accommodations, meals, transportation within Haiti, and translation and guide services. (Because people will be arriving from different locations, you are responsible for your own airfare to Port au Prince.

American Airlines, Air France, Spirit and Delta have flights from Miami or NY to Port au Prince. We strongly encourage you to purchase travel insurance in the event of unforeseen circumstances). Applications and a 50% deposit are due by Feb. 1, 2010. Be sure to get your application in early as space is limited.

Please eMail Lambi Fund today to request a travel application!

"Our group had a wonderful trip and came away with an avid appreciation for Lambi Fund's work and the communities with which it is partnering. One organization in particular (an animal husbandry project) really made an impression -- we were blown away by the members' enthusiasm, energy, hospitality, optimism, and potential." (Comments from previous delegation traveler)